Southeastern Conference Tournament Recaps
Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) – Kentucky had five players reach double figures as the No. 1 Wildcats cruised to the SEC Tournament final with a 91-67 win over the Auburn Tigers.
Willie Cauley-Stein led the way for Kentucky (33-0) with 18 points while Andrew Harrison totaled 15. Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker scored 12 points apiece.
“It started on the defensive end and just carried over to the offensive end,” said Cauley-Stein. “I’m going to lock down on defense and then if offense happens, then it happens. Today it just happened.”
The Wildcats will look for their first SEC tourney championship since 2011 Sunday against No. 21 Arkansas. The Wildcats topped the Razorbacks by an 84-67 score in their only meeting in the regular season.
The 13th-seeded Tigers (15-20) had a tough time with Kentucky’s size with their top-two rebounders, Cinmeon Bowers and Jordon Granger, missing the game.
“We obviously knew we had our hands full,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “For our guys, we were undersized and undermanned, but we have been that way all along. I’m just proud of the way my guys competed.”
Antoine Mason paced all scorers with 23 points for Auburn. Malcolm Canada chipped in 16 points and K.T. Harrell netted 13.
After Canada hit the first shot of the day to put Auburn up 2-0, the game went downhill for the Tigers. Both Aaron and Andrew Harrison would hit 3-pointers over the next minute, and the game would not get closer.
Aaron Harrison drained a 3 during a 9-0 run that extend Kentucky’s lead to 24-8. The Wildcats would lead 47-29 at the break after Andrew Harrison hit a jumper with 18 seconds to play in the half.
Auburn was just 1-of-11 from long distance over the first 20 minutes.
Cauley-Stein’s shot at 18:13 of the second half put the Wildcats up 20 for the first time in the game, but Auburn promptly went on a 10-3 spurt to make the score 55-42 with just over 15 minutes remaining.
That woke up Kentucky, which only yielded two points to Auburn over the next five minutes. Cauley-Stein finished an alley-oop courtesy of Booker with a power dunk and free throw to complete the 3-point play and give Kentucky a 71-44 lead.
Lyles’ layup with under seven minutes to go gave Kentucky its largest lead of the game at 28 points, 79-51.
Game Notes
Kentucky’s 33-game winning streak is the longest in school history … The Wildcats outrebounded Auburn 39-25 … Bowers was suspended due to a potential rules violation while Granger was ejected from Friday’s quarterfinal against LSU and then suspended for throwing a punch … Kentucky totaled 17 assists while Auburn only had five.
Final Score: (21) Arkansas 60, Georgia 49
Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) – Michael Qualls scored 15 points to lead No. 21 Arkansas to a 60-49 win over Georgia in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
That sets up a rematch with No. 1 Kentucky in the SEC title game on Sunday after the Razorbacks fell to the Wildcats, 84-67, at Kentucky in February.
Arkansas (26-7) shot just 37.3 percent. Anthlon Bell added 10 points for the second-seeded Razorbacks.
The third-seeded Bulldogs (21-11) were led by Marcus Thornton and Cameron Forte with 13 points apiece. Thornton added 12 rebounds, and Taylor Echols scored a career-high 10.
Early in the second half, Bobby Portis converted a three-point play in the middle of a 13-2 Razorbacks run. Those were the first points of the game for the SEC Player of the Year and also gave him 1,000 for his career.
Georgia’s first 25 points came in the paint or at the free-throw line until Echols’ back-to-back 3s with 12 minutes remaining. Those shots also cut down Arkansas’ game-high lead of 19 points.
The Bulldogs trailed by double digits for most of the second half, but another Echols triple pulled them within nine with four minutes to play. That would be Georgia’s final made shot from the floor.
Arkansas prides itself on its high-scoring offense, but it led just 25-17 at the half, tied for its lowest scoring half of the season. Portis was 0- for-6, and the Razorbacks shot 33.3 percent as a team.
The Bulldogs had even bigger problems. Forte led all scorers with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, but his teammates combined to shoot 2-of-19 in the first half. Georgia starters combined for six points.
Game Notes
Arkansas advances to its first SEC Championship since 2008 when it lost to Georgia … Georgia’s second-leading scorer, Kenny Gaines, did not play due to a foot injury … Portis finished with four points on 1-of-14 shooting with 12 rebounds … The Razorbacks only scored 25 points in the first half against Clemson on Dec. 7.
Categorized in: NCAA Basketball